Breakthrough discoveries cannot change the world if they do not leave the lab
The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering uses biological design principles to develop new engineering innovations that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world.
Inspired by Nature
At the Wyss Institute, we leverage recent insights into how Nature builds, controls and manufactures to develop new engineering innovations - a new field of research we call Biologically Inspired Engineering. By emulating biological principles of self assembly, organization and regulation, we are developing disruptive technology solutions for healthcare, energy, architecture, robotics, and manufacturing, which are translated into commercial products and therapies through formation of new startups and corporate alliances.
We have 8 major Focus Areas.
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Adaptive Material Technologies
Biomimetic building materials for sustainability that respond to environmental cues like living organisms. -
Bioinspired Robotics
Mobile, soft and wearable robotic devices that move, adapt and work collaboratively or seamlessly integrate with the human body. -
Biomimetic Microsystems
Therapeutics discovery and drug delivery enabled by microsystems technologies including microfluidic Human Organs-on-Chips. -
Immuno-Materials
Material-based systems capable of modulating immune cells ex vivo and in the human body to treat or diagnose disease. -
Living Cellular Devices
Re-engineered living cells and biological circuits as programmable devices for medicine, manufacturing and sustainability. -
Molecular Robotics
Self-assembling molecules that can be programmed like robots to carry out specific tasks without requiring power. -
3D Organ Engineering
Highly functional, multiscale, vascularized organ replacements that can be seamlessly integrated into the body.
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Synthetic Biology
Breakthrough approaches to reading, writing and editing nucleic acids and proteins for multiple applications, varying from healthcare to data storage.
Our Translation Model
Through our Innovation Funnel, we harness the creative freedom of academia to generate a pipeline of new ideas and potential breakthrough technologies; enable our staff with product development experience to prototype, mature and de-risk these technologies; and leverage our internal business development team, intellectual property experts, and entrepreneurs-in-residence to drive commercialization, through industrial partnerships, licensing agreements, and the creation of startups.
- Skunkworks There is no greater creative cauldron than the skunkworks of academia. We turbocharge it to fuel our technology pipeline. 1/4
- Concept Validation Ideas that pop up spontaneously in our labs are self-selected based on input from our staff with industrial experience and our business development team. Greater resources are provided to those technologies that survive through natural selection. 2/4
- Technology Refinement Technologies with the greatest potential value and ability to bring about transformative change are selected to become Institute Projects in order to de-risk them technically and commercially to enable commercialization. 3/4
- Commercialization Our entrepreneurs-in-residence or members of our business development team reach out to potential investors or industrial partners to develop licensing agreements or catalyze new startups. 4/4
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Collaboration at a Higher Level
Our scientists, engineers and clinicians, who come from Harvard's Schools of Medicine, Engineering, Arts & Sciences, Design, and Education as well as 12 collaborating academic institutions and hospitals, work alongside staff with industrial experience in product development to engineer transformative solutions to some of the world’s greatest problems.
